High school baseball: Mayfield, South impress at Captains Charities Classic

The eighth annual News-Herald/Captains Charities Classic at Classic Park drew a crowd of more than 1,200 to Friday's doubleheader.

All in attendance got to see why Mayfield and South are the top two seeds in the upcoming Division I Euclid District tournament, although the top-seeded Wildcats and second-seeded Rebels went about their business in much different ways.

Actually, they both went about their business on Friday in very typical ways that fans should be used to seeing this late in the season.

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In the first game, Mayfield brought out the heavy lumber in a lineup without an easy out from 1 to 9 in an 11-2 win over Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin. In the nightcap, South got another solid pitching performance from senior Jake Hall, dodged bullets with two huge defensive plays from right fielder T.J. Lett, and used a clutch two-run single by Drew Schaller to grind out a win over rival North, 5-3.

"I just knew we had to get some runs, so I went up there with a good plate approach and was able to get a big hit for the team," Schaller said of his two-run single that put South on top, 4-3, at the time.

Kurtis Moorehead followed with an RBI single to put the Rebels on top by two. Hall did the rest, pitching a complete game for the victory.

North (14-9) had chances for an early cushion, but Lett snuffed out runs in the first and second innings. In the first, he threw out a runner at home after catching a fly ball in right for a double play. In the second, he made a diving catch that saved at least one more run.

"We played well, we played a clean game, they just got a couple of key base hits and their right fielder made some great plays out there," North coach Dave Eberly said. "I think (Lett) really was the difference in the game for them."

South (17-6) struck first when Steven Scaccia tripled and scored on a sacrifice fly by Lett, but the Rangers responded with a double by Brandon Favors and an RBI single by A.J. Strnad. After the Rebels took a 2-1 lead, Dan Davies and Mike Frank had RBI hits for North to give the Rangers a 3-2 edge heading into the sixth inning before South made its comeback.

"It's North and South and nothing else we do during the season really matters when the two teams play," South coach Steve Norris said. "We played a complete game. North played a good game so hats off to them as well. It was just one or two hits that broke it open for us."

Mayfield 11, NDCL 2

Wildcats coach Don Ramer is a hard man to impress.

Mayfield pounded out 15 hits and scored 11 runs against NDCL to run its record to 17-3, but immediately following the win, Ramer admitted to having concerns about his offense with the postseason approaching next week.

"I'm doing OK, but our offense worries me a little," Ramer said. "I just don't like the last two weeks the approach at the plate and some of the guys have changed their swings. NDCL helped us out with some errors and helped us get the lead.

"Today was a little step forward but we still aren't where we need to be."

Where NDCL (9-10) is right now is in a bit of a funk, especially defensively. The Lions committed four errors against the Wildcats, helping out an offense that needs no help. All of this less than a week removed from beating powerhouse Walsh Jesuit.

NDCL coach Jim Clark said the Lions have been somewhat unpredictable all season, reflected in the record hovering around .500.

"First and foremost, Mayfield is a very good team," Clark said. "Secondly, errors have been our biggest problem this year, and mistakes on plays that I feel like we are capable of making. When we make those plays, we can play with anyone. You saw today it came unraveled, and that's kind of been our story this season."

Mayfield leadoff batter Cory Nager continued his stellar season, going 3-for-4 and scoring three runs. Ray Guerrini singled, doubled and drove in a run for the Wildcats. Larry Pinto had a pair of RBI hits and C.J. Tighe drove in two runs with a single in the fifth inning for Mayfield.

NDCL scored both its runs in the second inning. Paul Szabo singled and scored on a hit by Jake Miller. Kyle Stricker was hit by a pitch and came around to score on a sac fly by Christian Brandetsas for the Lions.